Greece (1) Society and Economy：August 2-5, 2015

It was less than a month ago when Greek Crisis was at the center of attention in the world. The events such as a chicken race with the EU on the bailout negotiation, the abruptly announced referendum, a sudden agreement, made headlines in the international news.

I visited the Athens, the capital of the country.

The town was calmer than I had expected before my visit. It is reported that the country’s unemployment rate is more than 25% for all working ages and nearly 60% (surprising!) for young generation. The figures are as high as those in the U.S. in the early 1930s, the time of the Great Depression.

The town looked normally working. The metro, the buses and the taxies ran without any serious problem. There were many foreign tourists in the city. The restaurants and souvenir shops in Plaka and other popular places for tourists were crowded.

Still, I found some homeless people lying in the sidewalks. Some of them were just near the automated teller machines, which had recently restarted normal operation after having limited the amount of withdrawal. However, I did not find the number of the homeless people were fur much more than the number in Tokyo.

I found many dogs lying in the ground near the Syntagma Square, the center of downtown Athens. It is nothing to do with the economic crisis. They do so as it is hot.

I also found lots of graffiti on the walls in many places in central Athens. 

Many of them were drawn for the referendum. (see the top picture).

I also visited the cultural area near Athens University and the National Technical University of Athens. Many far-left activists as well as anarchists live in the area, according to a local person. The graffiti looked having been drawn far before the referendum.

The infrastructure, including airport, metro and highways, looked far better than decades ago.

The Athens stock exchange resumed its operation on April 3^rd (during my stay). The index dropped about 16% compared with the level of June 28^th when it was closed.

The hottest news among the Greek people at the moment was the increasing refugee from the Middle East through Turkey into the country (especially to the Lesvos, Kos and other islands which locate near Turkey), not the economy. 

The function of the families (along with other mechanisms) might be working as safety net of the society under such high unemployment rate, according to a local friend.

On my arrival at Athens, I was welcomed by a message board of a bank at the airport. It said "the most forward-thinking banking...”. Many foreign visitors laughed at the board. I was one of them.